42 Shells as evidence of the Migrations. 
as a signal, especially in the ceremonies which accompany 
the return from a successful expedition, and this suggests 
either that it is an element of culture common to the 
kava- and betel-peoples, or that it was taken over by the 
betel-people from the earlier inhabitants. 
“The only place in Melanesia where we know of the 
existence of the conch-shell blown at the end is Efate 
{New Hebrides], and its association here with a special 
form of totemism suggests that it is connected with a 
special development of the kava-culture which has been 
responsible for the form of totemism found in_ this 
region.” ™ 
In discussing the material culture of the inhabitants 
of the Bismarck Archipelago, Rivers further relates that 
“the conch made of the shell of the 7r7/on is not only 
definitely present in New Britain and New Ireland, but it 
has that place in the ritual of the secret organisations 
which we should expect if it were introduced by the 
kava-people. When the members of the /mgze¢ take one 
of their stone images from one place to another, its 
approach is heralded by the sound of the conch which 
warns all uninitiated persons to get out of the way. 
When an uninitiated person hears the conch, he says, 
‘Here comes an image from Nakanai, thus associating 
the instrument with one of the more sacred images. 
Another indication of the importance of the conch in the 
/ngiet is that it may be shown to an initiate in place of a 
stone image if one of these is not available, thus suggesting 
that the conch may once have formed one of the mysteries 
of the society, comparable with the werewere or meretang 
of the Banks Islands or the bullroarer of the M/atambala 
oA 
and Auwkruk. 
* Thid. Vi p. 459. 
© Shid. \., p. 535. 
